Nearly 16000 years ago, there was fashioned a fascinating portrayal of a young woman, some who now call her the Maiden Queen, Mut-em-ua, the future mother of Amenhept III, and who was believed to be the incarnate of Isis—the sister/wife of Osiris. Both Mut-em-ua and Isis were specially impregnated: Mut-em-ua by angels, who were gods, and Isis who would fertilize herself with the seed of her slaughtered brother/husband Osiris, so that each would give birth to the baby Horus or Amenhept.

Goddess Isis who self-impregnated to become Mother of God

This scene we find upon the innermost walls of the most sacred chamber in the Temple of Luxor, built by Amenhept III, Pharaoh (a word that translates and means “Sons of God”) of the 17th dynasty. Mut-em-ua was hailed as a “virgin-mother” (as was the Goddess Isis, without sexual (penile intromission) intercourse since her husband had been murdered by his evil brother; ref. Luke 1:26-33); because neither Isis nor Mut-em-ua sexually “knew” (experienced vaginal penetration) a man each woman was given the title of Goddess of Creation and Mother of God. In the Greek it appears as Theotokos (Θεοτόκος: giving birth to [or, Mother of] God and is found on the Rosetta stone; it is close to the Slavonic Богородица). Here are the panels that began the Story of the Nativity:

Temple of Luxor (Egypt) Nativity Scene

While these panels have been subject of much debate (proactive and detractive, to support and condemn the Egyptian antecedents to the Jesus of the New Testament), what has not been established is why the story in ancient Egypt parallels that in the New Testament. The “virginity” of Mary had nothing to do with her hymen, but rather age: the word “virgin” means “young girl” and does not require sexual purity, abstinence or other unnatural and abnormal sex habits such as chastity. For that reason, we take a closer look at the panels.

In the bottom scene we see the God Taht (Thoth) who would become the Latin god Mercury who would be Micha-el in Hebrew. In the next panel we see the god Kneph (the Egyptian Holy Ghost) and the goddess Hathor hold crosses which were in ancient Egypt a sign of life (not death nor crucifixion) and were originally to symbolize the head and nostrils (cf. Genesis 2:7, cp. Luke 1:31-35) of Isis and mystically impregnate her. The third panel shows the birth of the child who was known as Karst (Son of God) and born on a footstool (better translated as a “manger”: being made of wood on which to place the midwife and newborn child). The fourth panel shows the child receiving homage from gods and gifts from men: magi (an Egyptian word for magicians) who present gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (the latter to be used at the time of death). See: Gerald Massey, Gerald (1907), Ancient Egypt: Light of the World, Vol. II, p. 757 [London, T. Fisher Unwin], and for the “Mother of God” development in Methodius of Patra, Speech on Symeon and the Holy Theotokos: Λαβομένη η Θεοτόκος των εκ του αχράντου και παναμώμου αυτής θυσιαστηρίου σαρκωθέντα ζωοποιόν και ανέκφραστον άνθρακα ως λαβίδι … επί τούτοις παρουσιασάμενος ο δίκαιος και τη προτροπή είξας της διακονησαμένης Θεώ προς ανθρώπους Θεομήτορος … περιφανώς ιερά θεομήτωρ εξετέλει, which is also found in the Armenian Աստուածածին and the Georgian ღვთისმშობელი. Such a woman “who is ever virgin…and holy and pure (Ἄξιόν ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς μακαρίζειν σὲ τὴν Θεοτόκον, τὴν ἀειμακάριστον καὶ παναμώμητον καὶ μητέρατουΘεοῦἡμῶν[emphasis added])” can be traced back 16,000 years to ancient Egypt, although Plutarch does discuss the nativity and life of Horus in his essay On Isis and Osiris (Plutarch, Moralia, Part 1 which is available in the Loeb Classical Library or at http://platopagan.tripod.com/plutarch_essay.htm).

Concerning the virgin birth we find:

Isis the powerful, protectress of her brother, who sought him tirelessly,
who traversed this land in mourning and did not rest until she found him;
who gave him shade with her feathers and air with her wings;
who cried out, the mourning woman of her brother
who summoned dancers for the Weary of Heart;

who took in his seed and created the heir,
who suckled the child in solitude, no one knew where,
who brought him, when his arm was strong,
into the hall of Geb — the Ennead rejoiced:

(Hymn to Osiris, Dynasty 18, stela Louvre C 286; from Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt by Jan Assmann, trans by David Lorton (Cornell University Press, 2001), p. 24-25)

This Egyptian title for Mary does not appear until the third century CE in the Christian church founded by the Emperor Constantine, as to do so invited charges of unlawful and unwarranted entry into matters left for the Emperor, which even Eusebius of Caesarea affirmed in his History of the Christian Church. Dionysius of Alexandria used Theotokos in about 250, in an epistle to Paul of Samosata. What becomes the Roman Catholic church does not transmogrify history by rewriting entire chapters of ancient Egyptian theology into the mythology of Paulinity that emerges as Christianity until the days of Theodoret who wrote in 436 the unusual (and highly condemned) appellation calling the Virgin Mary Theotokos, and then going so far as to desecrate historical accuracy and truth with the lie that it had always been an apostolic tradition—even though it is found no where in the New Testament nor anywhere in the original ancient scrolls. The Patriarch Nestorius (Νεστόριος; c. 386 – c. 451) of Constantinople, who was more knowledgeable about Christianity than anyone else in his era, argued that Mary should be called Christotokos (Χριστοτόκος), meaning “Birth-giver of Christ,” to restrict her role to the mother of Christ’s humanity only and not his divine nature, summarizing that Mary never gave birth to any god (which he wrote in his third letter to “Celestine of Rome” a bishop among bishops, not supreme, absolute, primary, or infallible (see: http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nestorius_two_letters_01.htm which is a fifth century translation into Latin by Marius Mercator [Loofs, Nesotiana, 181-182)—as that was a pagan (country or non-Christian) belief (there has been found an ancient manuscript copied from the writings of Nestorius and known as the Bazaar of Heracleides which is in Syriac and at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/; fragments, in English, are at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/nestorius_bazaar_99_appendices.htm; synopses in Spanish are at http://mb-soft.com/believe/tsc/nestoria.htm ).

The First Council of Ephesus in 431 was called by the Emperor Theodosius II (401-450). It was neither an ecumenical council nor one that was brought about to establish or restore harmony, but one that was corrupted by the venal Pope Celestine I. Ever greedy for additional revenue, Celestine deposed the Archbishop of Constantinople before the contingent of Eastern bishops from Antioch arrived—all of whom supported Nestorius. In retaliation for the usurpation, John I of Antioch and the eastern bishops convened their own council and deposed the crafty Cyril who led a group of renegade clergy intent on crafting their own theology. Cyril was allowed to return only after bribing numerous bishops and courtiers (John I., McEnerney (1998). St. Cyril of Alexandria Letters 51-110. Fathers of the Church Series: 77. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press. p. 151). The Latin Fathers were worried that the Eastern bishops were too close to Egypt and the Coptic, Syriac and Ethiopic brands of Christianity that did too little homage to the bishop of Rome who was working to making his see paramount and princely over all other sees. For this reason, Celestine needed to work ancient Egyptian theology into the fabric of Christianity over the rejection and objection of Eastern primates and bishops. The Eastern rites knew that Jesus came from Egyptian lore thousands of years before any Jesus was crafted by any hand in the writing of the basic book on The Christ: the senior magician of ancient Egypt who could change water into wine and multiple loaves of bread which he would proclaim were his own body and blood.